Are Nurses Ready for Retirement? Apparently Not

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief

Photo by Judy Schmidt/CDC Photo by Judy Schmidt/CDC

If you ask many nurses in their sixties if they’re ready to retire, they may heartily say, “Yes, can’t wait.” But if the question is whether they are financially ready to retire, the answer may be quite different.

In their article in this month’s issue of AJN, “Preparing for Retirement in Uncertain Times” (free until the end of January), authors Shanna Keele and Patricia Alpert note that surveys reveal nurses to be unsure of how to begin preparing for retirement. A 2011 survey reported that “71% felt they were not saving enough for retirement”; another survey revealed that “59% of nurses do not know how to begin the retirement planning process” and most do not feel knowledgeable about investing and other related financial processes.

Keele and Alpert, who’ve conducted research around nurses’ readiness to retire, “explore the obstacles that nurses, especially female nurses, confront in planning and preparing for retirement. We outline steps nurses can take to begin the process; discuss various types of retirement accounts; and refer readers to helpful, free online resources.” There’s also a box that lists crucial steps to take if you’re getting a late start on retirement planning. […]

2016-11-21T13:03:17-05:00January 5th, 2015|career, Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing research|5 Comments
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AJN in January: Long-Term Complications of CHD Repair, Obesity Interventions, Nurses Planning for Retirement, More

AJN0115.Cover.OnlineAJN’s January issue is now available on our Web site. Here’s a selection of what not to miss.

Complications after cardiac repair. Nurses often encounter patients with complications that occurred years after congenital heart defect (CHD) repair. Yet many patients whose CHD was repaired in childhood have not had regular follow-up. Our CE feature, “Long-Term Outcomes After Repair of Congenital Heart Defects: Part 1,” the first in a two-part series, reviews six congenital heart defects, their repairs, and common long-term outcomes, as well as implications for nurses in both cardiac and noncardiac settings. This CE feature offers 2.5 CE credits to those who take the test that follows the article.

To further explore the topic, listen to a podcast interview with the author (this and other free podcasts are accessible via the Behind the Article podcasts page on our Web site, in our iPad app, or on iTunes). A video of an atrial septal defect device placement is also available in the iPad edition of this article.

Obesity interventions. Patients with obesity often face stigma and bias, even from the nurses who care for them. “The Obesity Epidemic, Part 2: Nursing Assessment and Intervention,” the second article in a two-part series, presents a theoretical framework to guide nursing assessment of patients with obesity and their families and reviews the most common lifestyle, […]

2016-11-21T13:03:17-05:00December 29th, 2014|Nursing, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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Happy Holidays from AJN

 

The above image from our archives shows nurses, maybe students, at New York Hospital, early 1900s. Photo caption "Afternoon tea and midnight feasts seem to be traditional for nurses."

(The above image from our archives shows nurses, maybe students, at New York Hospital, early 1900s. Photo caption: “Afternoon tea and midnight feasts seem to be traditional for nurses.” We’ll see you in the New Year!)

2016-11-21T13:03:18-05:00December 23rd, 2014|Nursing|0 Comments
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A Lasting Gift for a Nurse’s Holiday Shifts and Lost Family Time

Illustration by Lisa Dietrich for AJN. Illustration by Lisa Dietrich for AJN.

As we know, gifts come in many forms, and often are as valuable to the giver as to the receiver. The best ones come at times when we least expect them. Readers will find that the start of AJN‘s December Reflections essay, “A Change of Heart,” describes a frustration that may be familiar to many nurses. In this case, it’s Christmas Day, and a nurse is kept by the urgent demands of her job from spending time with family. She writes:

I’ve been a nurse for more than half of my life . . . I love my career and consider myself blessed to have found my calling. But we all experience times when our long hours and the rigorous demands of this job make us feel that we sacrifice too much of our personal and family time to care for strangers.

The author had planned to be home for Christmas dinner. But, she tells us, “we had four back-to-back emergency CABGs starting at 8 am and stretching long past my scheduled 3 pm end of shift.” The essay develops from there as the hours pass. And then we meet a patient with everything at stake. The author is not the only one in danger of missing Christmas with family, and not just this year but for all the years to come.

We are reminded again and again that nursing has […]

2016-11-21T13:03:19-05:00December 19th, 2014|career, Nursing, nursing perspective|3 Comments
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Nurses Reconsider Accepted Wisdom About Transfusion Catheter Size

By Betsy Todd, MPH, RN, CIC, AJN clinical editor.

Photo copyright Thinkstock. Photo copyright Thinkstock.

Most of us have had the unhappy experience of replacing a patient’s perfectly good IV with a 19- or 20-gauge catheter in preparation for transfusion. The Question of Practice column in our December issue, “Changing Blood Transfusion Policy and Practice,” explores the rationale behind the long-time practice of using only large-bore catheters for blood transfusions.

After one patient’s particularly harrowing series of sticks to place a “large enough” catheter, a small team of oncology nurses asked themselves, “What evidence supports the use of a 20-gauge-or-larger catheter for blood transfusions?”

Most of these nurses had little experience with formal literature searches. Under the guidance of their clinical nurse specialist, they formulated a “PICOT” question (Population, Intervention, Comparison intervention, Outcome, and Time):

In adults receiving blood transfusions (P), what is the effect of using a smaller-than-20-gauge catheter (I) versus using a 20-gauge-or-larger catheter (C) on hemolysis or potassium level or both (O) within 24 hours of transfusion (T)? (Many of us were taught that a larger-bore catheter is necessary in order to prevent hemolysis during transfusion. Potassium is released when red blood cells rupture.)

The nurses set out to explore the literature and the guidelines of authoritative sources such as the Infusion Nurses Society. But they weren’t left to work on […]

2016-11-21T13:03:20-05:00December 17th, 2014|Nursing, nursing perspective, nursing research|9 Comments
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